When I say ‘Summer Reading’… I am not talking about what you will be reading at the beach this summer. Summer reading discusses the loss or decline in your child’s reading development, when the children are out of class on summer vacation and are not participating in formal literacy programs.
Did you know that children can drop up to three reading levels over the summer??
Most of the Fall is spent reviewing things learned the previous year, so not only will you be saving the teacher a few hours by continuing to practice reading over the summer, but you’ll be saving your child the pains of playing catch up! It is usually the children who have difficulties reading that experience the most loss over the summer, and sometimes, that can leave them even further behind.
8 Tips to Help Encourage Summer Reading!
- Visit the Library More Often! Your kids will be speeding through books with all their free time, so you might have to ‘borrow’ more often to keep up with your little enthusiasts!
- Scout for books that you know your child will enjoy. Do they like comic books? Use their hobbies and interests to fuel their love of reading! It doesn’t matter what they are reading, it is only important that they are!
- Present reading as an activity with a purpose! Reading is a way to gather info… let your children help you plan a day trip or an outing.
- Encourage older siblings to read to younger siblings.
- Play board games that encourage reading skill usage.
- Introduce the ‘Bookmark’ to your child! It is important that your child doesn’t feel compelled to finish a book in one sitting, or even, to finish that book ever! Let them read for however long they can, then take a break. Different children will have different tolerances for practice, so be sure to not make reading feel like a painful chore. Reading is a fun activity always!
- Offer special incentives to encourage your child to read. Maybe they can stay up an extra 15 minutes to finish off their chapter, see a movie based on the story they are reading or to be relieved from a chore to make extra time for reading!
- Most importantly, let your children see YOU read. Ultimately, if you have a good relationship with reading, they will too!
Happy Summer Reading!
Tina O'Connor
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[…] story time and learn (lately we’ve been talking about Canada’s provinces and territories). I believe it is so important for the reading and writing to continue on during the summer months, to keep up newly acquired […]
[…] a previous post, we discussed the importance of ‘Summer Reading‘ and how over the summer months off school, up to three reading levels can be lost. The same […]